SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly reinstated Michael Floyd to the team Wednesday, 4-1/2 months after the star receiver was arrested for drunken driving.

“We haven’t reached a destination point,” Kelly said at a news conference with Floyd, a former Cretin-Derham Hall standout. “He knows he has all eyes on him. There is an intense amount of scrutiny, cynics out there who look at this as we had this put together since day one. We can’t change what people think.”

Floyd, who has caught more TD passes than any player in Notre Dame’s storied history, said he has been to counseling, has changed his circle of friends and will stay in a residence hall instead of moving off campus.

In response to a question, he said he hadn’t had a drink at a bar since his arrest in March but acknowledged he’d been in a bar to socialize.

The school’s disciplinary arm chose not to suspend Floyd – even though it was his third alcohol-related brush with the law in two years. Kelly had suspended him a short time after his arrest. He missed spring practice, but Kelly allowed him to participate in voluntary workouts with the Irish this summer.

“I know I let a lot of people down,” Floyd said.

Kelly earlier this spring said that Floyd either would play in all or none of Notre Dame’s games this fall. He said a one- or two-game suspension would not have solved the problem.

“We took football away, and it was really about making a decision to change his life because I didn’t believe suspending him for a game or two was going to make a difference,” Kelly said.

If Floyd hadn’t made some changes, Kelly said, “It doesn’t matter how many games you suspend them, it’s going to put them back to the same position.”

Floyd, 21, pleaded guilty in June to misdemeanor charges and was sentenced to a year of probation.

In June, St. Joseph County Magistrate Brian Steinke gave Floyd a one-year jail sentence that was suspended as part of a plea agreement.

Now Floyd said he’s moving forward in a positive direction.

“What motivates me was my family,” Floyd said of changing his lifestyle. “Making sure I didn’t let them down again. I embarrassed them a lot.”

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